Every Storm (22 page)

"Goodbye, Violet," Lorri said. "I'll see you Monday."

"Goodbye, Miss Archer."

"Goodbye," Rigg said to Lorri, his gaze catching and holding hers for a moment.

Lorri could only move her hand in a small wave. She hadn't remembered much about him, not the color of those green eyes, certainly, and after looking into them, she'd had nothing to say.

Long after Lorri should have collected her things and gone home for the weekend, she was still moving slowly through the motions, checking the classroom and making sure all was in order.

She made the walk home in the same way: not the least bit rushed, as if she had all the time in the world. She didn't hurry until she was in sight of the house. Then it was suddenly very important to tell her mother who she'd seen.

"Did you know he was stationed here, Grandpa?"

"No, honey, .but it's an awfully big base."

"What did he say?" Max wanted to know.

"Not too much. The
Every Storm
and her men came back safely, and he was at school to pick up his niece."

"Did he think you looked different?" Dean asked, hiding a smile.

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Lorri, on the other hand, could not hide hers. An almost dreamy, satisfied smile stretched her lovely mouth until the whole family witnessed it.

Ruth and Max looked at each other and then to Dean, but he was smiling at Lorri.

"I think," Ruth began, sounding calmer than she felt, "that I want you to tell me every detail."

"All right," Lorri agreed without hesitation, explaining that he was there to pick up his niece, and that they spoke for a few moments.

Ruth didn't press her, but the moment she got her father-in-law alone, she didn't spare him.

"Dean Archer, I wish to know exactly who this young man is who makes my levelheaded daughter smile like a smitten teenager."

Dean couldn't help laughing a little. "I noticed that too."

"But you're not concerned?"

"Lieutenant Riggs is a fine young officer. I did a little checking on him after the fact and learned that our Lorri couldn't do much better."

Ruth's mouth opened, but Dean put his hand up.

"I wasn't matchmaking, Ruth, I just wanted to know who this man was. I was very impressed when I debriefed him at Seaford and wanted to know more."

"And what did you learn?"

"He finished OCS at the top of his class. He has a college education. He left a full-time job after Pearl Harbor to enlist He's close to his family, some of whom live here and others who live in northern California. And his faith in Jesus Christ is very real."

Ruth took a big breath. "I've never seen Lorri look like that."

"You're too used to it from the old Max."

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"I guess so. So what do we do now?" "Not a thing," Dean told her, a bit sternly. "If Lieutenant Riggs wants to get to know our Lord, he knows what he has to do."

"So what did he look like?" Max asked her sister when they were alone that night.

Lorri bit her lip.

"Tell me, Raine."

"He's dreamy, Max," Lorri admitted, her voice almost at a whisper. "Dark hair, green eyes, and tan. I couldn't believe it."

"He didn't look like that before?"

"He might have, but I was pretty weak."

"It was his looks," Max said outrageously. "They turned your knees to water."

The two of them giggled, way too pleased with themselves.

"Seriously, Raine, do you think you'll see him again?"

Lorri shrugged. "He didn't say why he was picking up his niece. So I don't know."

"Do you hope you see him again?" Max asked, watching her sister's every facial feature.

Chewing pensively on her lip, Lorri met Max's inquiring gaze.

"Yes." She nodded a little. "I do."

"A rather amazing thing happened today," Rigg told his brother and sister-in-law that evening. It was after dinner, and the kids were in bed.

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"What was it?" Jim Riggs questioned him.

"When I picked Vi up, I saw the woman we rescued off that island."

Dorothy, Jim's wife, had been bent over some mending, but her head came up in a hurry.

"She was at the school?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes. I asked Vi about it on the way home, and she said she's the helper in the first-and second-grade rooms."

"Miss Archer?"

"You know her?" Rigg asked.

"I've met her several times, usually when she's helping the children with rides at the end of the day. She's extremely sweet."

"I think you might be right."

Something in his brother's voice, or rather the lack of expression, caused Jim to look at him and then his wife. Jim didn't say anything, but Dorothy wasn't above a little teasing.

"Am I all wet, Donovan, or did she look a little different when you found her?"

It was said without laughter, but Rigg knew she was having him on. He settled a little more comfortably in his chair and smiled at her.

"She looked very different," he told her, his greeii eyes dancing.

"Do tell," Dorothy coaxed, leaning forward a little.

"Let's just put it this way: If she'd looked then like she looked today, I'd have had a riot on my hands."

Dorothy loved this. She started to laugh out loud until her husband warned her that she was going to wake William, their baby.

Rigg didn't stay much longer, telling them he needed to get back to the base, but in truth he wasn't in much of a hurry to leave.

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His brother and wife had bought a small house and turned it into a home. Rigg never tired of visiting them and the children. As he drove away, he wondered if Dorothy would need him to pick up Violet again in the very near future.

Ruth returned from the grocery store to be greeted with the sounds of Glenn Miller. Loud band music came from the family room, and as soon as the first bags were on the kitchen table, she went that way.

Her daughters were dancing. Side by side, they slid sideways and hopped into place. They clapped, snapped their fingers, and laughed breathlessly as they went through different motions and turns.

Ruth could only stare. Her daughters had never been to dances. Where had they learned some of those intricate moves?

"Come on, Mother!" Lorri called when she spotted her, not even breaking stride.

"Where did you learn to dance?" Ruth demanded.

"Josie and I would play the radio in our room and make up our own moves. I'm teaching Max."

Max, who was keeping up just fine, grinned at her mother and added her own invitation.

"You'll like it," Max sweet-talked, but Ruth only shook her head and slipped back into the kitchen.

When the girls realized she was unloading the groceries, they cut the music off and went to help. Both were still panting.

"As if the two of you don't get enough exercise," Ruth commented, handing bags to Dean, who had just returned from the Saturday morning men's Bible study.

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"Who's been exercising?"

"We were dancing," Lorri explained.

"Was I invited?" Dean asked, making the girls laugh.

"You're going to give them ideas, Dean," Ruth chided.

"Like what?"

The four had carried all the bags inside to the table, and now Ruth and Dean faced off.

"Like such things are all right. You should see some of these moves."

"But it was just the two of them, right?"

"Yes," Ruth grudgingly admitted.

Dean looked as though he was going to laugh, and Ruth's eyes narrowed a bit.

"When they dress up and head out to the dance halls, I'll step in," he told her, still a hint of laughter in his voice.

Ruth looked at the girls, her eyes speaking volumes. The girls did not want to disappoint her and were about to say so, but she spoke first.

"We've never talked about such things. I always assumed you knew, but now I'm going to ask. You do realize that such motions in front of men are completely improper?"

"Yes" Max said, and Lorri nodded in agreement.

"We won't dance anymore if you don't want us to, Mother," Lorri put in.

"So you don't have a problem with it, Lorri?" Ruth asked.

Lorri smiled a little. "I lived for four-and-a-half years on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere, Mother. Friday nights can be very long and lonely. Josie and I were just having fun. I wanted to have the same fun with Max."

Ruth had to admit that she hadn't looked at it in that light. Nevertheless, everyone could see she was in a quandary.

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"I think your mother needs to work this out, girls," Dean put in. "And until she does..."

Both girls nodded, not needing their grandfather to finish. The groceries were put away and lunch was readied without another word on dancing. Lorri, however, had plenty on her mind. The whole episode with her mother had made her feel like a five-year-old, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that

Rigg didn't make a move in their direction, but from the pew he'd chosen, his eyes followed the Archer family as they entered into church on Sunday. Rigg had visited this church in the past but had never seen the admiral. Right now he felt surprised speechless. The way they greeted others and made their way to a certain pew told him they were at home here.

Rigg likedthis church, but he hadn't been stationed in the area long enough to get settled anywhere. His eyes studied the back of Lorraine Archer's head, and with a sideways quirk of his mouth, he wondered if this might be a church he should visit more often.

"I need to break our agreement," Max said to Arlene at lunchtime on Tuesday, not about to keep it to herself any longer.

"Okay," Arlene agreed. "What's up?"

"My sister saw the man who rescued her off the island."

"Where? Did he come to the house?"

"No, it was all by coincidence. His niece goes to the school where Raine works."

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Arlene's mouth opened. "And they saw each other? Did they talk?"

Max nodded.

"Max" Arlene frowned. "That's not breaking the agreement."

"The next part is," Max leaned close and whispered. "She hopes she can see him again."

"Isn't he married?"

"No, what made you think that?"

"I don't know. I just assumed. Did she say what he was like?"

"She says he's dreamy. Raine never talks like that."

Arlene's hands came to her cheeks. She was so excited for Max's sister that she wanted to squeal, but they were in the lunchroom, and that wouldn't have worked at all.

"Well, this looks exciting," a familiar voice said. "You must be talking about me."

"Every moment, Johnny," Max said with mild sarcasm, watching him hide a smile.

He ate lunch with them often and was always amusing and a gentleman, but Max knew he wasn't the man for her. He knew how she spent every Sunday, but he never so much as asked about her faith in Christ. Max believed that if Johnny really wanted to get to knowher, he knew how to go about it.

It was never her intent to play games with his heart. She did nothing to lead him on, even though he flirted outrageously with her most days. Max wasn't completely immune to it, but she worked hard. She had determined a long time ago not to let him work his way into her heart.

Today he was especially fun, and he looked great, but Max Archer was keeping her guard up at all times.

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Lorri was doing it again. On Monday she'd done it; Tuesday too. Now Wednesday rolled around, the school day coming to an end, and Lorri wondered if the lieutenant would pick up his niece. And she didn't just wonder but once outside with the children took swift peeks behind her every few seconds.

And she wasn't sure why. Did she just want to look at him again? Did she hope that they could talk for a while? Did she hope to see interest in his eyes? It was all so confusing that it gave Lorri a headache, but still she thought about the lieutenant. And because of that, she wondered whether he thought about her.

"Miss Archer, I can't find my paper."

Lorri bent down to help the little boy at her side, and in the next instant, Violet Riggs' mother came for her.

Well, that answers one of my questions,
Lorri thought, trying not to think about the rest.

"We're going to be grandparents," Cora told Ruth the moment Bible study was over.

"That's wonderful, Cora," Ruth said softly, matching her friend's tone. "Or is it?"